Sepang International Circuit

Sepang International Circuit

Sepang International Circuit

  • Surface: Asphalt
  • Circuit Length:5.543 km (3.44 mi)
  • Turns:15
  • Lap Record: 1:33.784 (Jenson Button, Mercedes, 2009)

Used for FIA Formula One, Malaysian Grand Prix, FIM MotoGP, Malaysian Motorcycle GP, A1 GP, Grand Prix of Nations, Malaysia SuperGT, Asian Touring Car Championship, FIA GP2 Asia Series

Sepang starts with a long pit straight where the DRS zone exists - it is important to get a good exit out of the last corner to gain as much speed as possible. Turn 1 is a very long, slow corner taken in second gear. You brake incredibly late and lose speed gradually as you file round the corner, similar to Shanghai's first turn but slower. Turn 1 leads straight into Turn 2, a tight left hairpin which goes downhill quite significantly. The first two corners are quite bumpy, making it hard to put power onto the track. Turn 3 is a long flat out right hander which leads into Turn 4 - known locally as the Langkawi Curve - a second gear, right-angle right-hander. Turns 5 and 6 make up an incredibly high-speed, long chicane that hurts tyres and puts a lot of stress on drivers due to high G-Force. It is locally known as theGenting Curve. Turns 7 and 8 (the KLIA curve) make up a long, medium-speed, double-apex right hander, and a bump can cause the car to lose balance here. Turn 9 is a very slow left-hand hairpin (the Berjaya Tioman Corner), similar to turn two but uphill. Turn 10 leads into a challenging, medium-speed right hander at turn 11, requiring braking and turning simultaneously. Turn 12 is a flat-out, bumpy left which immediately leads into the flat right at turn 13, then the challenging 'Sunway Lagoon' curve at turn 14. Similar to turn 11, it requires hard-braking and steering at the same time. It is taken in second gear. The long back straight can be a good place for overtaking as you can brake hard into turn 15, a left-handed, second-geared hairpin but you have to be careful not to get re-overtaken as you come into turn 1 again.

Sepang race circuit videos

Onboard with Pedro De la Rosa at the 2012 Sepang GP